


He's Not My Boyfriend

by ft_shipper



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Blame it on the alcoholic boba tea, F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ft_shipper/pseuds/ft_shipper
Summary: “Rey, where is your boyfriend? I thought he’d be here today.”“Wha- Ben isn’t my boyfriend!” She said, coughing through her response, much to the amusement of both of her friends.She swore the whole bubble tea shop was glaring at her. With Finn’s howling laughter reverberating throughout the whole cafe, she was sure they were.And, Rose?Rose looked like the cat that got the cream. “Funny, I didn’t mention a name.”Based off @BenSwoloStan's comic | this is also a birthday gift to the other half of the ft_shipper twitter account.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 21
Kudos: 233





	He's Not My Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking for fluffy inspiration and I found it in @BenSwoloStan's comic: https://twitter.com/BenSwoloStan/status/1272191228906541057?s=20. 
> 
> Also - this fic is dedicated to the other half of ft_shipper! This account is actually run by two best friends. I write, she betas :) 
> 
> Enjoy everyone!

It was the start of her last semester at Coruscant University and she didn’t expect to feel so meloncholy. It’s not like she had a bad college experience - in fact, her time at school was the happiest and most accomplished she ever felt. She was graduating at the top of the class, she had made great friends, AND she had a job lined up at NASA as a junior aerospace engineer. She had no reason to feel this way. She knew she was lucky - one and a million really. She was an orphan who spent most of her life on welfare who got to go to one of the most elite universities in the country. But somehow, she felt like something was missing and she knew what it was. It was embarrassing to admit it, but with her undergraduate career ending she felt the urgency to recognize it. 

_It was love_. 

Although she feigned indifference, she longed for a partner, someone she could build a home with. Sometimes she thought this longing was because of societal pressure. After all, everyone spoke about the longevity of college sweethearts so she could _see_ that, but for her it simply wasn’t true. She had been alone for most of her life and building a home - no, _building a family_ with someone was something she wanted. It’s something she _needed_ , but somehow she had come up short in her four years at university. Sure, there had been dates, but no one stuck around. Or rather, she didn’t stick around. She simply hadn’t felt a connection with anyone. 

_‘But there is someone.’_ Her treacherous heart whispered. 

Unbidden, the vision of _him_ appeared in her mind: broad shoulders, amber eyes, raven hair that she longed to twirl her fingers around, plush pink lips...she shouldn’t think of him. She _couldn’t_. Not if she wanted to keep her heart safe. 

“Earth to Rey!” 

“What, Finn?” She snapped a lot louder than she intended to. 

As the grating volume of her voice sunk in, a few people looked at her incredulously and she felt her cheeks get hot. 

She wanted to smack herself. She had gotten caught up in her thoughts and went to “daydream land”, as Rose called it. Apparently it was a common enough phenomena for her friends to tease her about it. 

On top of her growing embarrassment, her two best friends had the audacity to gesture to her to “read the room” exactly in sync. 

It was annoying really. Finn and Rose had been dating since freshman year and they sometimes morphed into the same person. Their twin expressions made her want to strangle them, as they only amplified her embarrassment. It didn’t help that they were in the most popular bubble tea shop near campus. 

She took a deep breath and looked her friends dead in the eyes, ready to respond, when a woman wrinkled her nose at her like she was an uncouth scavenger. 

_Oh god, she wanted to sink into the floor._

Before she could recover, Rose interjected. 

“Rey, where is your boyfriend? I thought he’d be here today.” She asked nonchalantly. 

Her brain immediately short-circuited. Unbidden yet again - _he_ came to the forefront of her mind. Particularly, the memory of being wrapped up his arms this morning.

Without thinking, she sipped her drink at the same time she was about to respond. Two boba immediately flew into her throat and she projectiled milk tea all over the table. 

“Wha- Ben isn’t my boyfriend!” She said, coughing through her response, much to the amusement of both of her friends. 

She swore the whole bubble tea shop was glaring at her. With Finn’s howling laughter reverberating throughout the whole cafe, she was sure they were. 

And, Rose?

Rose looked like the cat that got the cream. “Funny, I didn’t mention a name.” 

Rey scoffed as she scooted her chair back to leave. The chair scratched the floor and made an otherworldly screeching noise and once again eyes went to her. At that noise, Rose joined Finn and started guffawing obnoxiously. 

Irritated by her two friends, she went to get napkins to clean up her mess, without a second glance at her cackling friends. 

Ben Solo wasn’t a possibility. She had tucked him away in the tiniest corner of her heart freshman year when she discovered that he was still hung up on his high school girlfriend. Sure, they eventually broke up, but by then she had friend zoned herself. She also didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. There were already enough people that came on to him on the regular. It didn’t help that he was a famous senator’s son. People were always trying to attach themselves to him and it was hard for him to have genuine relationships. He all but admitted that to her when he told her that she, Rose, and Finn were his only true friends.

She couldn’t jeopardize their friendship because he trusted her. She was just his friend and he wasn’t a possibility because he was meant to be with an old legacy name. 

_But was he?_

Her thoughts drifted to last night. They spent the whole night talking about the future and the things that they would do together: explore Naboo, see the ancient ruins of Tatooine, brew their own beer, try the rainbow bagels in Cloud City...things that ranged from silly to intimate. Their conversation was so soothing that she didn’t register when she fell asleep. 

When she woke up this morning in his arms she was shocked. She thought about waking him up, but she didn’t have the strength to. She was afraid that if she did, it would mean that their night wasn’t real. The spell would be broken.

“Are you going to clean up your mess?” A voice behind her sneered. 

The image of Ben faded from her mind and she was brought back to reality. She couldn’t think about this anymore. Scratch that she wouldn’t think about _him_ anymore. But first, she had to take care of this rude person. She glared at the patron and in spite, grabbed the whole napkin box as she walked back to her table. 

As she approached the table, Finn and Rose looked at her expectantly - both clearly challenging her to elaborate on what she said just moments ago.

Rose looked like she was about to open her mouth so she blurted out the only thing she could think of to change the topic. 

“Hey, it’s 5:30, they’re starting to serve alcoholic boba tea. You want a round?”

* * *

She didn’t know how she did it every time, but somehow she always forgot she was a lightweight. She only had three midori boba teas and she was already tipsy. Luckily, the conversation had surprisingly been tame. 

“So, why wasn’t your boyfriend here with us?” Finn said casually, before sucking up a bunch of boba. 

_She spoke too soon._

“Come on, Rey. Spill!” Rose encouraged. 

She thought about it, going through different wordings of denial, but those words didn’t come out. The alcohol in her veins made her tongue loose, so she just decided to let the truth out. 

“It’s because I didn’t wake him up this morning.”

It was Finn’s turn to spit out his drink. “WHAT?”

She laughed at his reaction. “Not like that. We just slept.”

Rose raised her eyebrow at her, as if challenging her to reveal more. “Well, what did you talk about?”

“We talked about our future.”

Her friend’s questioning expression turned into a full fledged grin. “Get the fuck out of here and find Solo right now.”

“Carpe diem, Rey!” Finn egged on.

“What does that mean?”

“Seize the moment, Rey-Rey!” 

* * *

Turns out she could run fast. 

The boba tea shop was about one and a half miles from Ben’s apartment and she made it to his doorstep in less than fifteen minutes. 

She was out of breath and she was jittery, but she had to find out, right? Worse case scenario she could blame it on the bubble tea if he rejects her. 

Before she could think about it harder, the door swung open fast, revealing Ben’s large form. He was wearing one of her favorite outfits; a simple white t-shirt and dark black jeans. What was more endearing, was the fact that his ears peaked out of his hair ever so slightly, a sign that he was fresh out of the shower. 

“What’s wrong? Why are you out of breath?” Ben asked.

She put her hands on her knees, trying to regain her breath. “I ran here.”

“Well, come in silly.”

She gave him a lopsided grin and before she could stop herself, the words came tumbling out of her mouth. “Carry me?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “You’re definitely a buzzy bee.”

She was about to pout, but he granted her request and scooped her into his arms. She sighed in contentment as she held onto his strong arms. 

He deposited her on the couch and he took his place next to her. 

“So what is it you wanted to talk about that was so urgent that you ran here?” He asked.

His eyes bore into hers and all of a sudden the liquid courage evaporated. What was she doing here? Was she out of her mind? He was definitely going to reject her, he was going to - 

As if sensing her unease, Ben interrupted her. “Rey, please don’t overthink it. Tell me.” He pleaded as he threaded his hands into her own. “Please.”

_Carpe diem._

Those were the words Finn had uttered to her before she left and it was the thing that was on her mind as she dashed to Ben’s apartment like she was out of her mind. Seize the moment. 

Before she could think about it anymore, she did it. She seized the moment.

“I love you.”

The words left her lips and she swore she could hear it echoing throughout his apartment. She almost wanted to take it back as she noticed his expression. He looked like he was in shock and disbelief and she wanted to fall into a cavernous hole and never crawl back out. She wanted to sail away to the faraway island of Achc-To and become a hermit. She wanted to -

“I love you too.”

She froze. Did she hear him correctly or was that the midori boba tea? 

He laughed and her cheeks immediately turned pink. She had said that out loud and she wanted to die. Apparently today was the day of embarrassing her to the edge of the cliff. 

“No, not the boba tea. It’s true I love you - though I did tell you last night.” He said with a lopsided smile.

“So that wasn’t a dream last night?” She said slowly. 

“No, sweetheart. Now what's the first thing you want to finish on our bucket list?”

She didn’t say a word, she leaned over and did the one thing she had been longing to do since she set eyes on him in Intro to Statistics - she kissed him.


End file.
